Friend of Amoeba Hollywood, public radio station KCRW welcomes American radio icon Joe Frank back to the Santa Monica radio station's airwaves later today (July 20th) when he will present a special production of UnFictional - the KCRW Independent Producer Project that features captivating stories of real life told by writers and performers. Today's special production of UnFictional, that airs at 730pm, is titled Dreamers and addresses questions regarding time and mortality. It includes "stories about a family’s tragic visit to Palestine, a man who attends a dinner party after learning he might be dying, and a contemplation of different perspectives on time,” said Frank in a prepared statement.

The most-unique & influential radio artist was previously at the station for sixteen years when he created several radio programs beginning in 1986 with the one hour Joe Frank: Work In Progress. Of Joe Frank, KCRW's Bob Carlson said that, "Listening to one of his stories is a mesmerizing and disorienting experience. If you’ve never heard one before, you’re in for a trip.”

Dreamers will air live today Friday, July 20th at 7:30pm PST on 89.9 FM in the greater Los Angeles area and will also stream online at kcrw.com. If you miss it today it will rebroadcast on KCRW on Tuesday, July 24 at 2:30pm or you can grab it online later today here to download, stream and podcast.

Legendary soul/spoken word artist Gil Scott-Heron will be honored July 20 with a tribute in Downtown Los Angeles at 8 p.m. at California Plaza (350 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90071) as part of Grand Performances. The "Peace Go With You, Gil" celebration will feature performances by Scott-Heron’s longtime collaborator Brian Jackson, Amoeba Music staffer Jimetta Rose Smith, Carlos Nino, Jeremy Sole, and more. The celebration is said to explore “the soul, vitality, power, humor, social activism, humanity and dynamic messages” of Scott-Heron through a musical and artistic experience. Amoeba will be there with a booth, so come check it out.

Amoeba also has several Gil Scott-Heron albums available in store, including the harrowing I’m New Here, released in 2010, and its remix album with Jamie XX from moody Britpop duo The XX. I recently picked up Reflections on vinyl, it's awesome. Check out all the releases in stock here.

If you're at all like me, when you're in the mood to listen to music, radio is one of the least likely places you turn. There was a time (1983 till around 2000) when the radio was the primary source of my exposure to new music. When I moved to LA in 1999, I flipped around the FM dial stopping whenever I heard something I liked. Before the introduction of Shazam, I had to rely on memorizing snippets of lyrics and then looking them up since it seemed like DJs rarely announced what they were playing. That’s how I discoveredB.G., Los Dandys, Duncan Dhu,Enanitos Verdes, Los Freddys, Juvenile, Lil' Wayne, Mikel Erentxun, Mystikal, Los Prisioneros (among others).

Dating a Vietnamese New Waver, Napster, and Pandora all provided new avenues of exposure and I pretty much gave up on FM radio except for usually music-less public radio. When I've been subjected to FM radio in the past few years, the playlists seem to have somehow been whittled down to approximately four incredibly overplayed "classics" that serve as bumpers between hour-long blocks of commercials -- or pop music meant to make 12-year-old girls feel like 16-year-old princesses (and anyone else nauseated).

Growing up in other parts of the country, pop culture sculpted and skewed my perception of the Southland more than anything else. Living here I consider it to be the most misrepresented too. I’ve never been to Philadelphia but my experiences in other large American cities haven’t produced the same sort of glaring dissonance between my expectations and experience that LA has. And with LA the center of America’s pop culture machine, I have to wonder why the city doesn’t do a better job of showcasing its positive attributes instead of its negative – mainly conspicuous consumption, movie stardom and gang culture.

Taking place August 16-18, the festival begins with a VIP event honoring The Doors. Details TBA but they're saying an-all star band will pay tribute to The Doors, and other bands playing the festival will cover Doors songs as well.

Saturday, August 18 is the main day for the festival, with Sunset Blvd closing down between Doheny and San Vicente. There will be two outdoor stages, beer gardens, autograph tent, VIP lounge, food trucks, and more music at participating iconic Sunset Strip venues - The Roxy, Whisky A Go Go, and Key Club. Those three venues, plus House of Blues and The Viper Room will have various shows on Thursday and Friday as well.